Speaking for those without a voice
Ride for Miles for Smiles starts Saturday; ends with help from Shannon Tweed-Simmons
Living a country apart, Bev Moore-Davis and Andy Bhatti had two very different lives for a long time.
Moore-Davis: a successful businesswoman, model, and devoted wife and mother, harbouring painful secrets. Bhatti: a young drug addict earning $1,500 a day through crime to support his addiction, sleeping in stolen cars and dirty motels and racking up 60 criminal charges in six years alone.
On Thursday, both fuelled by their past, Moore-Davis and Bhatti left St. John’s together in a van headed for Port-aux-Basques, where they will begin an islandwide bike ride in the hope of bringing comfort to young people who are suffering like they did.
Moore-Davis was abused from the time she was a small child until she ran away at age 17. She never told anyone what had happened to her until 2011.
“I ran into a young guy from my past who was also a victim of child abuse,” Moore-Davis said. “He wasn’t quite as fortunate as I was, and it made me realize we were keeping secrets and we weren’t helping ourselves —we were protecting the abusers.”
She started a local chapter of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse, a peer support group for men and women, having trained in California. She also established the Miles for Smiles Foundation, an organization dedicated to raising awareness of child abuse in all its forms.
Bhatti, who was raised and still lives in B.C., was sexually abused by his “big brother” through a Big Brothers organization between the ages of eight and 14 years old. He withdrew from family and friends and started self-medicating with drugs at a young age, trying to dull his pain. By the time he was 15, he had an $800-a-day heroin habit.
“I thought it was my fault. I lived with the shame and the guilt,” he said. “My way of coping with the abuse was through drugs and violence.”
Bhatti eventually realized the source of his pain wasn’t going away unless he was able to talk about it, so he started networking with other survivors and made it his life’s passion to become an advocate for victims of child abuse. Over the past few years he has raised about $40,000 for various causes, including Sophie’s Place in Surrey, B.C.; a centre for children who have survived trauma, named for Sophie Tweed-Simmons, daughter of Newfoundland-born actress/model Shannon Tweed-Simmons and KISS frontman Gene Simmons.
He first came to Newfoundland after being contacted by a local mother whose son had also been abused by a “big brother.” She was asking him if he could help her find resources. Bhatti said he was shocked to find very few.
The mother ended up connecting Bhatti with Moore-Davis.
“I’m hoping the government here will follow suit with other provinces in Canada and open a safe, child-friendly environment for victims of child abuse,” he said. “I’m also hoping to let people know they are not alone. If survivors think they’re alone and they’re isolated, that leads to addiction, other mental health issues, anti-depressant medication, and that prolongs them from getting the help they need in the long run. I know there’s a good chance most survivors in this province are not treated.”
Moore-Davis’ plan is to speak to people across the island about the prevention of child abuse, and she hopes to establish peer support groups in other communities.
“I’ve seen lives changed, in the matter of a year,” she said. “To see what these people have been through and where they are socially and where they were a year ago, it’s just phenomenal. I’d like to see it across the province.”
Bhatti and Moore-Davis will leave Port-aux-Basques Saturday and stop in 11 communities before ending up in St. John’s Aug. 8. The ride will end with a free event for all ages at Bowring Park from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., including bouncy castles, laser tag, a barbecue, a silent auction, live music by local duo Everglow, and a meet-and-greet with Tweed-Simmons, who will join her sister Sara Tweed-Stafford, Moore-Davis and Bhatti for the last leg of the ride.
That evening at 7 there will be a 19+ event with Tweed-Simmons at JAC hotel on George Street West, with music, a silent auction, cash bar and prizes. Tickets are $20 (there are only 70 available in total) and are available at Frontline Action, August and Lotta, and by calling 7469627.
“I’m riding to be the voice of an 11-year-old kids who doesn’t have a voice because he’s too scared with guilt and shame to say what happened to him,” Bhatti said. “I want to ride to be the voice of other survivors, to let them know they’re not alone, they can get help and there are others out there who have gone through the same thing and made it out. They’re going to be ok.”
To report child abuse, call your local police or Child, Youth and Family Services office. A list of CYFS officers is available at www.gov.nl.ca/cyfs/report/html.
“I’m riding to be the voice of an 11-year-old kid who doesn’t have a voice because he’s too scared with guilt and shame to say what happened to him.”
Andy Bhatti